Wipeout Fusion

Laziness Aforethought

Spiralling tracks are an early highlight

Back in the day, Wipeout was thought to represent the convergence
of videogames and mainstream entertainment, and it helped to make
it socially acceptable to have a games console in your front room.
Having established PlayStation as the clubber's companion and laced
the games with contemporary soundtracks though, Sony discovered
that Wipeout was able to fend off all-comers, including superior
games such as Nintendo's F-Zero X, without actually improving upon
the ageing formula at its heart.
Ironically, while Wipeout Fusion's advertising campaign hints at a
vastly improved game with an incomparable approach to futuristic
racing involving mapping it around known landmarks, Sony's
development studios apparently lack the innovation borne of their
marketing allies, because no such remodelled London track exists
within the game. Instead players are faced with another Wipeout
game, cast from the same mould with none of the groundbreaking
aspects of its predecessors. Anti-gravity racing is, as per usual,
the focus of the game, and although Sony has elected not to turn
the game into a futuristic NASCAR simulation a la Extreme G3, the
game does bolt along at a commendable pace, and thanks to some
tweaked physics it feels better than ever. That said, coming at the
game after a week in Wipeout boot camp to get my trembling fingers
up to speed, I was stunned by the initial difficulty of placing in
any of the races.
One of Fusion's biggest flaws is the overemphasized combat
element, which hands racers the ability to take down their
soon-to-be-erstwhile competition within metres of the chequered
flag. In fact, I placed sixth in both of my opening races and
failed to finish the third at all after receiving a rocket to the
proverbial crypt. Switch off the weapons though and you can
steadily acclimatize yourself. The handling takes a bit of getting
used to, with your back end sliding out through even the slightest
of turns and often connecting with the unforgiving barriers at the
side of each course. One or two unfriendly clashes and a spin could
leave you out of the race, confirming Fusion as the Monaco Grand
Prix of Wipeout games, with half the field limping home or not
making it to the end at all.

Tougher Than Leather

As you can see, I am somewhat off the pace, but this will change! Mark my words!

As you progress, the importance of airbrakes becomes clear and the
tightly designed courses feel a lot more homely. In fact, after a
few hours' teething I was thoroughly enjoying myself, wielding my
Dual Shock one-handed along straights and singing boisterously.
Which is a good thing, because the soundtrack feels like a
practical joke. Gone are the ruthless baritones of Firestarter,
replaced with more traditional techno vibes, none of which floated
my anti-grav Auricom. With the music set to mute and The Fat of the
Land reverberating around my room though, I found myself adjusting
to the unpleasantness of being shot repeatedly within inches of
victory, and dealt out a number of equally nasty fates.
With these stop-start beginnings long forgotten, Fusion becomes a
fairly serious undertaking. Settling down with the game involves
picking from a number of fairly self-explanatory modes, with
arcade, league, elimination, time trial, endurance and 'zone'
options available. My skills now adequately honed, I was in it for
the long haul, and that's what I got. Across these various
activities there are a total of 32 ships to unlock with 16
different pilots and 45 tracks, which steadily improve as the game
wears on and are all available in a mirror image configuration as
well. The two-player mode is so accessible as to be fiercely
competitive, and perfectly capable of driving a wedge through any
relationship.
In terms of AI behaviour, Fusion's weapon-clad enemies are
uncompromisingly harsh, perfectly happy to ruin several laps of
hard work with one well-placed, totally unavoidable rocket.
Route-finding AI seems to be up to scratch, with racers picking
logical routes through open areas and around obstacles, and the
faster fliers finding a path through the field with inimitable
success. Unfortunately, this means less spectacular clustered
crashes to mop the highway with, and more racers succumbing to
weapons fire and the practically magnetic race barriers than
anything else.

Conclusion

All things considered, races never fail to excite. The problem is
that Fusion offers little to fans of the series beyond its improved
graphics engine (admittedly with spangly particle effects) and
unforgiving race dynamic, and we're not in the business of
rewarding people who put in the bare minimum. Wipeout Fusion feels
like a glitzy 2097 with floaty physics, and the track design,
however sumptuously detailed with transparency effects, dust
kicking up, sprawling highly-detailed vistas and a smooth
framerate, is ultimately nothing more than a seasonal update. Play
the game in two-player mode and you sacrifice quite a bit of that
extravagant detail, and it's easier to see the game for what it
really is: the staggered transition of a popular franchise onto a
system already dominated by superior derivatives. Wipeout virgins
should definitely apply, but for the rest of us, it's time to dig
out Wipeout 2097, I think.

Eye Candy

7
/
10

Wipeout FusionTom BramwellReview - you can take those capitalised 'E's, and do you know where you can shove them? Do you?2002-03-19T12:30:00+00:00710